Custom wood stocks

[skyfish25]

I do a little tree work on the side and had to do some fence clearing. I kept some black walnut and some red elm(slipper elm, not American elm(white)). What do you look for stock material, crotches and limbs or straight like board feet? Anyone ever use red elm, it has a nice color and dead red elm stays hard a long time, unlike white that decays fast.

This wood is from Iowa, I thought if I could keep a rifle blank or two for me and give one to landowner. That would be cool. Then to redo my first rifle a 257 Roberts from my dad.

 

[FearNoWind]

When I look for stock wood I want straight, tight grained hard wood that offers a curvature to the grain at the point where I'd cut for the grip portion of the stock and it must have been open air dried at least five years. English Walnut preferred but other hard woods with acceptable grain patterns are often worthy of consideration.

 

[maninthemaze]

I came across this while searching for rifle stock pictures. Hope it helps!!

It's on page 9, if it doesn't load properly.

http://forum.snipershide.info/showthread.php?t=573&page=9

 

[Edd]

Different people have different tastes but for me, this is as good as it gets.

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f53/turkish-walnut-7-08-a-139592/

 

[dsculley]

Check for Larry Potterfield's youtube videos. He has one on what to look for in selecting wood blanks for making a stock. He is discussing a Safari rifle stock, but I think it would pretty much apply to all. Here is the link:

For the stock that I made, I used two well aged pieces of African Mahogany that were epoxied together so the blank would be thick enough. The grain was straight in both and the result was pretty good (well, at least I think so). You can see this one in the thread "Who's made their own stock" in Gunsmithing on the last page of the thread.

Dennis

 

[Joel Russo]

Different people have different tastes but for me, this is as good as it gets.

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f53/turkish-walnut-7-08-a-139592/

Thank you Edd!

 

[J E Custom]

I have built a few stocks from a blank and found that it requires a lot of different elements to end up with a thing of beauty, Plus a tremendous amount of labor.

Selecting the wood with the best grain and proper moisture is only the start.

Next you have to lay it out to take advantage of the grain for looks and strength.

I like to do 90% of the inletting while it is still a blank before I cut the shape. (Others may do it differently).

After the partial inletting comes the shaping,(Lots of work).

But the real time and labor starts when you start finishing the stock, especially if you are anal
about the way you want it to turn out.

I think everyone should build at least one stock so they can appreciate how much work goes in to building a custom stock and then decide if they want to do another one.

I now leave this type of gun building up to guys like Joel Russo that does such great work and spend my time on the metal work.

If I had to build stocks for a living I would be poor because for what you could charge for a stock I would make about $3.00 oo an hour.

J E CUSTOM

 

[tinkerer]

I prefer wood down to 8% moisture or less, naturally dried with ends sealed to prevent cracking.

A little grain curvature down at the grip/butt is nice. Crotch makes very tough wood, but pretty.


And on that making stocks for a living. I just dabble on the side, and it works out to about $.50 an hour ultimately when you factor in wood costs, tool costs, and just labor, especially during the sand and finish stage.

Maybe ask Joel Russo about cutting and finishing your wood?

Larry
Tinkerer